Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion

Miles deep, loaded with options and gorgeous art, Sins: Rebellion is a great, genre-transcending strategy game. [Aug 2012, p.60]

An excellent strategic piece. You may be discouraged only in the case you own the original SoaSE with all its DLCs (The Trinity edition); because all that is new could be put into a tiny DLC.

This is a decent expansion to the best 4X-RTS-in-space out there. A real treat for newcomers to the game, veterans might find the $40 price tag a little steep for an expansion that is more evolutionary than revolutionary.

The important part here is that Sins of a Solar Empire still delivers a very unique kind of strategy game, and Rebellion doesn't screw with that; instead, it makes that base game substantially smoother and more interesting.

I do feel that $40 is a little steep for a stand-alone expansion after developer Ironclad's Vancouver, British Columbia neighbor Relic has spent years training me to expect a $30 price for its content-rich Company of Heroes and Dawn of War 2 expansions. But on the other hand, Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion is an outstanding and unique real-time strategy game that offers a welcome, slower alternative to StarCraft 2's intense pacing. As a life-long fan of sci-fi space battles, I simply can't help but strongly recommend it.

The best part of Rebellion or any RT4X title is the replay value. This title can be played again and again as all your decisions ultimately effect the long-term gameplay.

Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion adds some nice features to a great, proven winner of a game. Those features are nice, but as nice as they are, I couldn't really see myself running out and throwing down forty bucks for this standalone expansion if I already owned the original Sins, to say nothing of its expansion packs.

If you've never experienced Sins of a Solar Empire before, you'll find no better entry point than Rebellion. But if Rebellion commits any sins of its own, it's in the $40.00 price tag, which seems excessive for an expansion that will almost certainly strike its loyal fans as little more than a meaty content patch.

A pricey expansion with only few additions? Not enough for those who played the original Sins. But as a package for newcomers this Rebellion is a fantastic offering – a complete, refined strategy game that still ranks among the best in the genre.

Bigger and more stable than ever, Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion will happily strip-mine your life of its free time.

Rebellion is the best way yet to experience the strategic joys of the Sins of a Solar Empire franchise.

A wonderful last hurrah though, as expansions go. With the new ships and tech, the internal divisions along with everything else, there's hundreds more hours of fun to eek out of this game.

Of all the current space strategy games Sins of a Solar Empire is my favorite.

For the hours of expanding into one the countless galaxies, the admission is worthwhile. And even though all the new factions and abilities give you only more options but not more depth, this is a satisfying final to Ironclad's space opera.

Sins of a Solar Empire may be showing signs of age, but it continues to stand out as one of the best tactical space combat sims around. While it doesn't shake up the status quo much, Rebellion isn't lacking in polish or extra content.

A perfectly satisfying way to quell your hunger pains for a long-form, hardcore RTS.

Rebellion isn't a massive departure for Sins of a Solar Empire, but it's a good enough reason to get back into the game or to discover for the first time one of the more interesting evolutions of the strategy genre in recent memory.

Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion is a game I really wish I was more skilled at. I appreciate all the various aspects of gameplay and the depth that the combination of those aspects provides. Still, as my fellow critic Kristin Taylor might say, I was far too enamored with the construction of my newfangled Titan to react quickly enough to the raiders destroying my infrastructure. While it's a long, long way from being up my alley, it at least makes for a good spectator sport.

If you've been meaning to check out the series, but never have, then Rebellion is the perfect entry point. However, if you've been a loyal fan, you're likely to be disappointed by the tweak-first, content-second approach that Rebellion offers.

Rebellion is easily the definitive game of this series, with lots of new content and all the old stuff thrown in too-and if Legends of Pegasus wants us to "forget our Sins," it had better give us something truly great.

Rebellion adds a very small number of updates to a good game. A few ships, small number of tech upgrades and some victory condition. Recommended for those who have never played Sins of a Solar Empire.

Rebellion is clearly an improvement over the original Sins of a Solar Empire, but it's still a not very successful attempt to cross an RTS with a 4X strategy game.